Billy Meier
| birth_place = Bülach/ZH, Switzerland | nationality = Swiss | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Author | known_for = Contactee/UFO religion | organization = (Free Community of Interests for the Border and Spiritual Sciences and Ufological Studies) (FIGU) | children = 4 | parents = | website = }} Eduard Albert Meier (born February 3, 1937) is a Swiss citizen who is the source of many photographs of alleged unidentified flying objects (UFOs), which he presents in support of his claim that he is in contact with extraterrestrial beings. He also presented other material during the 1970s such as metal samples, sound recordings and film footage. Meier reports regular contacts with extraterrestrials he calls the Plejaren. Meier claims to be the seventh reincarnation after six prophets common to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Enoch, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jmmanuel (Jesus), and Mohammed. Meier has been widely characterized as a fraud by skeptics and ufologists, who suggest that he used models to hoax photos claimed to show alien spacecraft. Background Born in the town of Bülach in the Zürcher Unterland, Meier joined the French Foreign Legion in his teens, but says he soon left and returned home. In 1965, he lost his left arm in a bus accident in Turkey. Some time later, he met and married a Greek woman, Kalliope Zafiriou, with whom he had three children. The nickname "Billy" came by way of an American friend who thought Meier's cowboy style of dress reminded her of "Billy the Kid." This anecdote was told by Meier in an interview with Bob Zanotti of Swiss Radio International in June, 1982. Alleged extraterrestrial contacts Meier claims his extraterrestrial encounters began in 1942, at the age of five, when he met an elderly Plejaren man named "Sfath". After Sfath's death in 1953, Meier said, he began communicating with an extraterrestrial woman (though not a Plejaren) called "Asket". All contacts ceased in 1964, he said, then resumed on January 28, 1975, when he met "Semjase", the granddaughter of Sfath, and shortly thereafter another Plejaren man called "Ptaah". Other Plejarens, including a woman named "Nera", have since allegedly joined the dialog as well. Photographs of these two women were later proved to have been faked.Outer Space Pictures – Asket-Nera-Semjase – Summary billymeieruforesearch.com, retrieved March 20, 2017. Meier founded a religious movement based on his alleged contacts with Semjase, called the "Freie Interessengemeinschaft für Grenz- und Geisteswissenschaften und Ufologiestudien" (Free Community of Interests for the Border and Spiritual Sciences and Ufological Studies) in the late 1970s and established his "Semjase Silver Star Center". The movement's headquarters is in Switzerland.George D. Chryssides. Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements. Rowman & Littlefield; 2012. . p. 312–. Photographs, films Meier's photographs and films are claimed by him to show alien spacecraft floating above the Swiss countryside. He calls the alleged spaceships "beamships" from Plejaren. According to Meier, the Plejaren gave him permission to photograph and film their beamships so that he could produce evidence of their extraterrestrial visitations. Some of Meier's photos are claimed by him to show prehistoric Earth scenes, extraterrestrials, and celestial objects from an alleged non-Earthly vantage point. Meier's claims are widely characterized as fraudulent by scientists, skeptics, and most ufologists, who say that his photographs and films are hoaxes.Aaron John Gulyas. Extraterrestrials and the American Zeitgeist: Alien Contact Tales Since the 1950s. McFarland; 6 May 2013. . p. 138–. In 1997, Meier's ex-wife, Kalliope, told interviewers that his photos were of spaceship models he crafted with items like trash can lids, carpet tacks and other household objects, and that the stories he told of his adventures with the aliens were similarly fictitious. She also said that photos of purported extraterrestrial women "Asket" and "Nera" were really photos of Michelle DellaFave and Susan Lund, members of the singing and dancing troupe The Golddiggers. It was later confirmed that the women in the photographs were members of The Golddiggers performing on The Dean Martin Show. See also * List of alleged extraterrestrial beings References External links * — Billy Meier's official website *An independent third party review Category:1937 births Category:Ancient astronaut speculation Category:Living people Category:UFO writers Category:Ufologists Category:Swiss Jews Category:Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion Category:Swiss amputees